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Doug Wheatley, social commentator and talk show host expressed that he is opposed to the idea of having a demonstration and a march at this point without having all the information of what is happening in the United Kingdom (UK). Photo: VINO/File

ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – “I am opposed to the idea of having a demonstration and a march at this point. I don’t think it is necessary for us to do that because we don’t have the information,” were the words of Doug Wheatley on the radio programme 'Speak out BVI' on ZBVI 780 AM on May 15, 2018.

According to Mr Wheatley, he believes the people of the territory do not have enough information on the matter in order to support the march

“We do not have the information on this matter. Until we know something about what is happening with the House of Lords, it would seem to me that we are not in a position to say yay or nay or to go this way or that way. So I think we are trying to jump the gun in trying to have the large-scale march and demonstration and having others involved with it. We don’t know enough. We don’t know the future and we can’t say what will happen when the matter is before the House of Lords, so why are we making all this preparations now when we don’t have the information?" the talk show host questioned.

He further mentioned that the organisers are contacting foreign press to come in to cover the march but emphasised that some of the things that the organisers and the supporters are planning might “backfire” on the territory later, while reiterating that the people should wait until they get the facts and figures before going ahead with the march.

“So I say cool it until we have facts and figures. Hold your horses. Let us wait and see and if we have to pray, let us pray for a good result,” said Mr Wheatley.

“There should have been a crisis management plan” - Doug Wheatley

Earlier the talk show host suggested that there should have been a crisis management plan in place or one implemented after hearing the news from the United Kingdom (UK), adding that a committee should have been created to handle this particular matter with Governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert at the head.

The social commentator indicated that based on his statement issued on May 8, 2018, he believes Governor Jaspert is very “committed” to do whatever he can to help resolve the situation, but disclosed that he is “disappointed” with Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith (AL) for endorsing the march while describing it as “premature”.

“What then should we do if we are not standing up?” – John I. Cline

Meanwhile, Bishop John I. Cline, who is spearheading the committee that is planning the march, called in and expressed that he does not understand why Mr Wheatley is against the march, while asking for suggestions on what else can the Virgin Islands people do to stand up against the UK.

He said, “I respect your position as a BVIslander but I don’t just understand what it is that you don’t understand about the people of the British Virgin Islands wanting to stand up for their economic freedom because this vote in the House of Commons was clearly a violation of our economic impendence and it tramples upon our economic viability. So what then should we do if we are not standing up and saying this is wrong when all the other Crown Dependencies are not being subjected to the same laws?”

In response, the talk show host suggested that the people of the VI should wait to get a report from the Premier, Leader of the Opposition, Honourable Andrew A. Fahie (R1) and the Governor about what the facts are.

Sharing the same sentiments as Mr Wheatley, a few residents expressed their reasons for not supporting the march.

One caller said, “The BVI is one of the few overseas territories that is fully compliant with international best practices in financial services. However, there are some of the OTs to this day that are laundering money and the thing is the UK know who they are. I believe that we have been caught up in something that is absolutely awful although we are fully compliant. I fully agree with you on the march. Here it is they are asking us to march with some of the same people from the OTs who cause us to be in the place where we are today. I think it absolutely ridiculous and I will have no part in it whatsoever.”

Another caller to the radio show indicated that the organisers of the march are “behaving like the politicians” and excluding who they want while inviting who they want.

Premier Smith and Hon Fahie are currently in the UK to have talks with British officials over the decision by the House of Commons to vote on an amendment to a Bill on May 1, 2018, to make beneficial owners of offshore accounts public.

32 Responses to “‘I am opposed to having a demonstration’ – Doug Wheatley”

How is it that were not marching for price control
How is it were not marching to make sure that our kids get a good education and has challenges in their lives that would make them better people
How is it that were not marching to make sure that people in this country are treated fairly
How is it that were not marching for better health care
How is it we did not March when the $7,000,000.00 was given away
How is it we did not March when all this money from the pair park just vanished in mid air and no one can tell you where to find it
How is it we did not March when all those workers from all of those companies were layed off not knowing what tomorrow will bring ,But because the same people who is now pushing for this March might have been loosing money from their nest egg now the poor ones have to to March to give them a voice but who marched for the voice of of the voice less people when they were and is going through the dilemmas ?

Because despite those things you have a job. You still live in your big house and drive your expensive car. The reason for this march is a game changer, people. This industry brings in at least $300 million a year. No thriving Financial Services Sector Road Town will be a ghost town in short order and life as we know it will be OVER. That is the goose that lays the golden egg for us to afford to live the way we have been living all these years. We get up every morning and rush to work and this industry that will be crippled by this decision by the House of Commons provides for most of us, not tourism. So we march for our lives and our livelihood. Right after the worst natural disaster to ever hit this country our Mother Country does this to us. We should march all night long and it should be at least 20,000 of us. We would never survive if that is taken away and they know it.

People really! You want to get out and March and protest against something you have no real clue or idea what is really taking place this so called register????

I would never put my head on the block unless I have seen clear documentation showing the process and proving that it is or it is not so!

Especially given the fact that a once kindered relationship with the UK is now eroded and we have only seen the behavior of the likes of these people now that we are down to the wire!

All the Facebook rants and all the ones that support the nonsense are the ones that are affiliated with this Government and continue to be placed in positions to take your tax paying money to recreate ideas that had already exist! Stop the nonsense... open your eyes and see the games!

All the talk about them from here! They are not true VI landers... as their roots are from else where... don’t mind the noise... a lot of people will get their feelings hurt in due time!

@Think Smart! Everything you said made sense except the last part....pride will kill bvi landers.....where are your roots from Think smart? Do you even know? How far does your roots need to go back to be a virgin islander? How would you feel if you go some where else to live and experience what down island or other people not from here experience? We follow the usvi ppl to america but what are we up there foreigners......virgin islanders used to go dominican republic, usvi, aruba, venezuela to work when bvi wasnt s**t....financial services and tourism in the 60's made ya'll think on top. Smh.....pride comes before a fall. Coming from a true OPEN MINDED virgin islander...roots in VI too.....we all came on boats they just stopped in different places....all our roots goes back the same place...

The march must go on. We have always had a bunch of BVIsanders who have always been cowards, that will not change. They talk a good talk but when it comes to backing it up, they suddenly lack courage.

We live in our society that seems to suffer from selective historical amnesia. We find it very difficult to preserve the memory of those who have resisted and struggled for the ideals of freedom, democracy and equality.

At no time in my life growing up in our country have I seen DW put himself out on a limb for anything with all the intellectual constitutional research he has acquired. His children, however, shows promise.

Courage involves going against the grain at times. Courage is an enabling virtual to put yourself out-there regardless of the fear to make a collective stand against injustices. This is the time to put-up or shut-up. Our country future is being threatened.

After this, it’s on to standing against the injustices of the NDP. We say- “NO MORE ON ALL FRONTS!”

Again, the poor people must march to save the rich from being exposed of their finances(register) let's NOT march and see where them hiding out hard earned tax dollars among their"rich friends". And generation to come to be struggling like the children in hati.

I have a lot of respect for Mr. Wheatley but im disappointed with his position on the March. He knows better. He also knows how this will affect us in the BVI.
We need to make our voices heard NOW!! Not wait for the House of Lords.

March for what?
The right to hide corrupt money?
I know, we are the cleanest of the clean and I just don't understand the system, am ignorant, anti BVI, etc etc.
Point is, to the world, this is what your march will look like.
If they want to portray us as a greedy little micro state making noise because Mother Country won't allow us to hide dirty money anymore, they'll find plenty of evidence.
Face it, regardless of the rules and regs now in place and our super clean system that now leads the world, we have a spectacular track record of enabling international corruption, tax evasion, money laundering, terrorist financing, theft of resources etc. - going all the way back to when we started, before anyone noticed what we were doing.
In truth, there is zero evidence that we have ever cared about the ethical issues the financial service industry throws up. We just abide by rules imposed on us by outside bodies that claim to care and threaten our pocketbook if we don't comply.
Also note, we have zero track record of holding our own government to account for blatant corruption, internally. No public anger, just a passive acceptance and lip service on blogs. This sacred constitution you now wish to defend is shredded every year by our own, and directly to the people's detriment, but no one cares to march.
And we have zero track record of popular outrage against shameful, shameful crime statistics, with members of our own community willing to hide the ID of murderers, child killers, drug smugglers, child molesters and wife beaters over and over again. No marching, just a silence that screams "WE DON"T CARE!"
They will say we don't really care about anything - until we can cry 'colonial!' or 'racist!' Then we all dance to a truly righteous tune, regardless of who the piper is.
I say march if you want to, but be aware that while we might avoid self-examination, this is an invite to the world to look very closely at us, the BVI - and its just a fact that from many different angles - we don't look good at all.

@DanceBabyDance. Globalization is all about “cannibalistic” practices. Reaping any resource that the wealthier nations deemed valuable, from the weak and defenseless, to enrich another. The average literate persons around the world understand that all money is blood/dirty money, that’s why its exchanged from hand to hand. Making a stand will demonstrate that we recognize the hypocrisy. They developed the game and the rules, so why treat us like Indians and disregard the treaty when we are most vulnerable. Ask the Queen how did her Crown became soo wealthy? Most innocently we presumed. This message needs to be sent loud and far. March we must at this time in our history; to do otherwise- is to remain walking deaths.

I get it "Dance Baby Dance" that our political leaders should be held accountable, but do not ask the fox to fix it. As "Give Us A Break", the wealthier nations are who started this game of Financial Services and is now crying foul when their voters are asking questions about why there are struggles to implement national programmes and where has the money gone. They are told lies by the MPs and administrations who have mismanaged their country's funds and are told lies on the re-election campaign trail and in the legislature that it is those OTs financial services that is the tax evaders and avoiders hide their dirty money. They do not tell the voters that their puppet masters of the MPs are paying the MPs to talk with two tongues or else death threats or reputations would be destroyed. The voters have not been educated that Switzerland is the biggest enabler of money laundry, tax avoidance and tax evasion and among other European countries including our motherland. Please read the confessions of an economic hitman by Perkins , pawn in the game by Carr and circle of intrigue. These books give an in depth idea of why BVI is the center of attention which was to get the heat off of European countries who enabled the same things we are being accused of. Find another way to hold our elected officials accountable for any perceived wrong doing. Wake up Dance Baby Dance and dance to awareness and common sense.!

@ @DanceBabyDance - First sentence - I think you miss the point. No one is asking the fox to fix this problem - point is, why are WE the people not trying to fix our own corrupt form of government, our own problems of crime, our own embarrassingly low standards?
We don't need a lecture on how bad 'they' are and always have been, how bad the international finance system is etc etc. But blaming our own total slackness on everyone else's badness is just lame and lazy.
Far from being 'brave' and 'patriotic', I think this march exemplifies how lame and lazy we BVIslanders are. We let our own get away with the most disgusting behaviour, we make our money out of helping international corruption, and yet when someone calls us out on it, we all band together to march against their wickedness,
Please, Bishop, explain.

Agree with Doug that the March may be premature. The March should be based on facts, information, effort to bring attention to an issue.........etc with a desired outcome. The Great March of 1949 was for better representation and reactivation of the Legislature that was suspended in 1902. Both of these goals were attained; the territory got the opportunity to vote directly for some representatives and the Legisalture was reinstated in 1950. Further, Noel Lloyd and Positive Action Movement (PAM) agitated to reverse the Kenneth-Bates Hill agreement that give control of Wickhams Cay and 1/2 of Anegada for 99 years. The Movement was successful in rescinding the agreement. Now, locals control the land on Wickhams Cay and Anegada.

In regards to the House of Commons vote on requiring a register of beneficial ownership, it is only step 1; the House of Lords (HoL) still needs to act on the bill. In the past the HoL voted against similar and related legislation. As such, the territory should first work the diplomat channels. Of course, residents have the right to peacefully demonstrate and match. But we need to be smart and strategic in how we execute our limited options. We must be cognizant of the unintended consequences.

Your comments are usually sound but not this time. Firstly, on the two marches you refer to, those brave persons would not have known their demonstrators would have that effect. They marched for change in the first case which came a year later and the second case, three years later. They were behind a veil of ignorance not knowing the outcome but they did it anyhow. You can look at history now and determine what the demonstration produced as they would not have known that at the time. You would have to wait a while from now to make a complete statement about this march. So your response is really begging the question.

Secondly, on the HL point, you do not have the information. Understand that this bill is not a BVI bill, it is a UK bill that affects the BVI. The first time around the matter was raised in the HL and not the HC, and the HL voted it down. However, this time around the HC has voted in favour of it moving forward and the UK Government remained silent, so no one in the Government can bring an amendment to the bill at the HL except the same HC parliamentarians that took it there. Strategic? A wrong is a wrong and it has already been done. What are we afraid of. They have us just where they want us, afraif of our own shadow. Why must we wait with bated breath to see what UK decides in correcting a wrong, before we can demonstrate against a wrong that has already occurred. No matter what the UK does next week, a wrong has already occurred. But anyway, the decision is on 21 May, so you can change your view after Monday as to whether we should march on Thursday. I won't change mine (smile).

@@Political Observer (PO, could effective diplomacy play a key role in HL voting down the bill? Should we not give diplomacy a chance. For the most part, bills rise or or fall in behind the scene discussions. The Premier and Leader of the Opposition are in London working behind the scene to see if they get MPs to change position. On the other hand back home, people are planning a massive march to see if MPs will change position. How will MPs view these two actions? Give diplomacy a chance. Is Benito Wheatley still on the job?

In regards to Noel Llyodd and Pam and the Great March, at the time of the March, there were no bills currently before either the HC or HL. However, in this instance, there is bill before parliament. IMO the diplomatic track I should a better track. What actions does the BVI have to punish the UK if they approve the bill? THe BVI cannot kick the MPs that vote for the bill to the curb? MPs don’t look to BVI residents for votes. Do most UK MPs and residents probably do not give a rat’s ass about what BVI residents want; they (both government and opposition) dance to the beat of the UK electorate. The countdown is on (5/21). Not averse to my fellow residents voting. Do you think that government errored in publicly embracing the march?

Doug will see what will happen in the House of Lords on 21 May 2018. He think the UK playing with our behinds. And I don't know why we have to wait anyway. The wrong has already been done. Even if the HL correct it, which they won't, the wrong has already been done and the HL will agree with the HK.

If the person making that comment above can let the committee know who is excluding who then please make that public. All members of the public were invited to join the committee and still are. If you don't support the cause, then fine, but don't spread propaganda on the committee members to prove some point.

I got onto this blog late today; however, this one looks like its heating up like rapid fire at cox heath, for or against this March/Demonstration. All I can say, this one is gearing up to be a history-making event in our territory, looks like whatever goes down- something will be felt. FIRE!!!

Doug is right, this is a rushed emotional decision. IMO it is one made by ppl who just don't understand the world politics b/c they've been in a local vacuum too long. We should wait and watch for awhile b4 we rush into things. These people crying racism & injustice don't know what that really means b/c when it is blatantly shown they have been quiet for years. Now they are overreacting to a perceived insult we should wait til we have all the info.

You are either preaching the gospel and leading the people to accept Christ teaching , to love oneanother and to live in peace and harmony,or are you looking for fame by holding a March and causing strife when some marching will not even understand what is happening. The Bible tells us we cannot serve God and mamon at the same time. There is a time and place for everything. We elected people who should make such decision if necessary. As president of the Christian Council we look for sound, peaceful guidance. Do not use that position for war. Use it to call for help to take care of the less fortunate in the community who suffer daily.

I've read all these comments. All I can say, it appears ALL HELL going to break-loose after the 21st of May if this outcome is not favourable. Hope Our Premier and Hon. Fahie can make something happen behind the scene to calm down all this tension that is mounting towards this issue. A lot is at stake.

I think Doug is right on this one. This Beneficial Ownership Legislation is only the tip of the iceberg. If the march organizers really understood what forces are at play here they would go mute. BVI is in.... much deeper than we realize. Some educating is in order here, but we live in such deep denial and fantasy. What an awful sad situation.

We need you now and more than ever to reach out to the Almighty for protection against the influences of the dark forces that are diligently at work against this country and others who dare to stand up to men and women who sold out to be in the circle of intrigue that is hidden in plain sight. This battle that BVI and other OTs are in is also spiritual and has been forewarned in Ephesians 6:10 - 12. Mrs. Maduro-Caines got it right for reaching out to the community and asking for unity in prayer on Sunday, May 20 at 3:00pm at QE II Park. Let us all join her there with the prayer warriors or where ever you are. Pray for BVI, I say Pray for the other OTs. We are under a spiritual attach. Those 3 storms were not by coincidence: August 7 Flood, Sept 6 -Hurricane Irma, and Sept 16 - Hurricane Maria. They were part of UK circle of intrigue plan to subdue us to their bidding and take back control of a product that TPTB want back. That is why we need to learn about world history so we can see the connections. Pray, Pray, I say Pray to Jehovah Almighty

For yours truly all I know for certain is that the powers that be has is was will destroy with all their might, destabilize the economy of any and all financially successful black country community or a black leader touting economic strength for the people. The UK has and the UK will do this directly or support other countries in this mission. To be financially independent is to be free and the world powers are not allowing any such freedom. The ultimate threat to their assumed entitlement and privilege.
What I know is that the passage of the latest UK mandate to destroy an economy, was made and directed exclusively for the colonies where such financial independence exists and where the Black Gov elected by the locals are Blacks.
What I know is that colonies of other demographics were excluded from this mandate.
What I know is that the blatant racist discriminatory attempt of financial anhilation is a violation of human rights.
I want the world to know, I want the world consciousness to be raised concerning the actions that perpetuates poverty in the Caribbean. I want The World to know that Haiti is a deliberate condition manufactured and diligently administered.
Marching for UK to rescind its order? That is not the reason to march
March as protest against evil. March and not continue to be quiet. March and open the eyes and consciousness, March in unity with and for ourselves and all the other Caribbean countries.

It's been a while since I've been on this news site. What some people who are bashing the organizers of this march fail to realize is if the House of Lords votes in favor of this act the BVI is in trouble. Once people start moving their money to someplace that does not need to make their records public, then what. The financial services sector will suffer. What will happen when these companies starts moving and it will happen. The livelihood that we have grown accustomed to will be affected by all some more than others. March or not to March is everyone's individual decision. We can't just tuck our tails between our legs and let the UK do what they want.

The BVI needs to stand against what the UK is doing to us.
But we must also stand up to these political parties we elect year after and out in power.
I will march against what the UK is doing to us but I will encourage my people to demonstrate against our leaders who are stripping revenue from the people of the VI. Enough is Enough...

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